


Bounty Hunting Is Better With Two

by weirdrobot



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Friendship, Gen, post-Holocron Heist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:42:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27328264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weirdrobot/pseuds/weirdrobot
Summary: Canon never did explain how Cad Bane and Todo ended up together again after Todo blew up. I like to think Bane likes him more than he lets on.
Relationships: Cad Bane & Todo 360
Comments: 5
Kudos: 10





	Bounty Hunting Is Better With Two

In a dark room of one of Coruscant's towering undercity hotels, Cad Bane leans back in his chair, wide hat pulled over his eyes. That last job was a tough one.

It paid well, sure, but that doesn't mean he enjoyed it. It's a welcome gift to relax again, and have some quiet.

Except for one thing.

It's _not_ quiet.

He bats the hat back atop his head and red eyes snap open at the soft clanging outside. Thin lips contort into a frown and for a moment he's still, just staring at the wall.

He pinpoints the sound as it grows louder, and with a careful movement he draws a hand to one of the holsters at his side. He barely breathes as the sound stops, but one moment later there's a knocking at the window.

He rises from the chair in a flash, blaster drawn toward the window. Through the closed blinds he can just about make out a blurry silhouette, so distorted he can't even recognise it. There's a lot of people that want him dead. But he doesn't remember putting anything that looks like this on the list. Or any that could get up to a window this high above the ground.

He's disturbed from his pondering by another hard knock, and with a swift move he rushes to the wall, coat tails flying behind him. With his back to the wall, unable to be seen from the outside, he reaches for the cord and pulls the blinds open with a sharp tug.

He's not risking his neck by peering round to see what's out there, so he barks a question.

"What d'ya want?"

It would be a surprise if the Jedi managed to find him here, but not out of the question. There're still a few loose ends hanging from the last job; a certain changeling that spilled her guts to the Jedi, for instance… And after all, as a bounty hunter of such high repute, the price on his head is quickly growing.

He draws the other blaster and holds it close to his chest, waiting for a reply.

"Bane? It's me," comes a voice, softly mechanical, and all too familiar.

Bane lets out a breath, not sure whether to be amazed or furious, shaking his head as he steps into the light.

"Todo?" he hisses. "How the hell did you find me?"

He gestures with one blaster, the hovering droid flinching a little as it waves in his direction.

"Well, thankfully I still had your tracking data in my memory core, which was fortunate enough to survive the explosion," Todo 360 explains proudly.

"Explosion?" Bane asks, trying to recount the full details of their last little outing.

Ah. He remembers now.

"Oh, yeah. That explosion. Must have slipped my mind."

Todo starts sputtering in indignity, but Bane holsters his blasters and opens the window wide enough to let him in. He carefully shuts the blinds again. It helps to be careful.

"It was a worthy sacrifice," he shrugs. "Got the job done, anyway."

"I should hope so," Todo snaps. "I had to let those Jedi rebuild me, they even-"

"You _what_?" he asks, baring sharp teeth.

The droid flits around the room nervously.

"Well, I didn't have much choice in the matter, did I?"

"I know _that_ ," Bane growls. "But if you still had my tracking data, that puts one nasty dent in all of this. And one in you, if you're not careful."

"I didn't give them anything," Todo replies, holding his hands up defensively. "My core data is encrypted, and I flew out of there before they could get to anything important."

"You better be right. There's a reason I wipe your memory before any jobs."

"I suppose- wait, you do what?"

"Doesn't matter. At least you're back here where I can keep an eye on you."

Bane shifts back towards his chair and reclines in it, resting his feet on the desk.

"Have I missed anything important?" Todo asks, hovering over beside him.

Bane squints as the yellow light of Todo's eyes hits his face, the single light in the murky room. He pulls his hat down over his face some more and reaches into his pocket for a toothpick to chew on.

"Not particularly. Nothing as big as breaking into the Jedi temple, that's for sure."

Todo's head swivels around as he peers around, investigating Bane's latest place of residence. Another dingy hotel on Coruscant. He can't say he's ever thought highly of the places his master likes to frequent, but supposes it's just another part of the job.

"What exactly have _you_ been doing in my absence?" Bane asks, holding the toothpick in long blue fingers. "I'm surprised you didn't get taken in for scrap."

Todo crosses his arms, almost offended by the suggestion.

"I did my best to stay out of trouble and away from the busy parts of the city. And there was the issue of having to stay powered, but I found my solutions to that."

Bane's brow raises a little.

"That's a lot of effort, even for you, Todo," he says, turning to him. "I didn't program you with those kind of survival instincts."

"No, but you _did_ program me to be loyal," Todo replies, swaying forward. "I knew you'd come back to Coruscant eventually."

"And if I didn't?"

"Well then, I'd stowaway on a ship," he begins, too passionately for Bane's liking.

"Alright, alright, keep it down," he hisses, conscious of bringing too much attention to himself in this dingy hotel. "Crazy little droid."

He picks at his teeth a little, turning his attention to the screen glowing faintly in front of him with the details of his next bounty. A request from the Hutt council themselves. Those slugs have wallets too deep to ever refuse, even if it does involve freeing a prisoner from the Coruscant big house. It's a big ask, almost too big for just one bounty hunter.

But he's not just a bounty hunter. He's the best damn bounty hunter in the galaxy. And one that only recently broke into the Jedi temple, captured a Jedi and got away with it. Give or take a few details.

The other bounty hunters don't need to know the whole story.

His mind wanders. He didn't expect to ever see Todo again. He's always been a little expendable, always good at creating diversions and helping him do the real dirty work. He admits, he knew it would make his life harder when he attached that bomb to him. He wouldn't have made it into the Jedi temple in the first place without him, and he'd miss his usefulness.

But droids are easily replaced, he had told himself. And he has enough credits to buy a hundred droids that could do ten times the jobs that Todo could do, and probably wouldn't be so chatty either.

It wouldn't be the same, though.

For all his whining, he can be a cruel little thing when he wants to. He finds it pretty entertaining. Whoever heard of a _catty_ droid?

In some ways maybe they make quite a good match. There's not much in the way of company for a bounty hunter like him, anyway. So he's happy to make the most of it.

Maybe he's glad to have him back.

He lets out a deep breath and shifts upright in his seat, tossing the toothpick to one side carelessly.

"Come on," he says, gesturing with his head for Todo to come closer. "We've got some preparing to do for the next job."

Todo's head swivels round sharply, the little droid rising from the spot on the bed he had settled down on. He almost jolts forward in gleeful surprise.

"We? What do you need me for this time?"

"Just thought I could use the company," Bane shrugs.


End file.
